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Sex with a Mathematician by Pete Barry

5/30/2017

 
1-Sentence Summary: After realizing that she and her date (a mathematician) are not a good match, Sara explains to her date that while she's not interested in him as a person she was planning to get laid so can they cut the boring and tedious small talk and skip to the pleasurable part of the evening?

Appreciated: Depiction of a strong outspoken woman who knows what she wants and owns her sexuality unabashedly.

Age Range 20's
​Character's gender is female.
Monologue genre is comedic.
Find this monologue in the collection of short plays "Plays for Three" in the play "Sex with a Mathematician" by Pete Barry.
Monologue starts with the line "Listen, Shirty" and ends with "Let's skip the torture and jump right to the pleasure. (Sizes him up) In whatever quantities we can get it."

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)
​1. Strong Want - 1. To get laid.
2. High Stakes - 0.5
3. Tactical Variety - 2. To break the stigma of casual sex "we're just mammals." To get him to own up to how bad the internet dating service screwed up. To set herself apart from how most women she (and likely he) knows and why she love vets by different rules. All tactics serve to sell him on the idea.
4. Hook Opener - 2. Two words grab attention, show spunk, and establish her character's persona fast. Unique word choice "Shirty."
5. Button Finish - 2. Gives the actress an active reaction to play as she sizes he guy up. Comic gold potentially here. Try different deliveries with colleagues! Humor comes from the honest emotional moment. So what genuine reaction to the guy might someone be having that would make you giggle if you witnessed it?
6. Sensory - 0
7. Internal Obstacles - 0
8. Past/Present Balance - 0. All present action here. That's a good thing! (IF a monologue is a rememberence then it must be connected to and furthering the active present moment in some way).
9. Discovery - 1. If Sara doesn't know she's going to be so blunt (until the moment she is) it will have more power than if she had planned to say it or this is a shtick she uses frequently.
10. Restraint - 1. Understanding the moment before a monologue is key here. If Sara was biting her tongue and suffering inside the whole date until this moment, then she's been restraining her frustration until this moment when she releases it. This monologue is in part fantasy fulfillment. The thing we wish we were brave enough to come out and say. Sara likely feeling no liberated as she blows past the normal human fear of hurting the person she's with to being brutally honest.
TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 9.5

Loved this one!

Tags: Comedic female monologues, Comedic monologues for women, Womens monologues, Audition monologues for women, Contemporary monologues, Modern monologues, Monologues from published plays, comedy monologues, comedic monologues, funny monologues, humorous monologues, 1 minute monologues, hilarious monologues, monologues for young women, strong outspoken female characters, sassy monologues, monologues about dating.
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Chickie Parker Comedic Monologue by Neil Simon

5/30/2017

 
1-Sentence Summary: Alan demonstrates his irresistible charm to his friend Buddy by talking Chickie Parker into going to a friend's party with him.

Appreciated: How just within the space of a few words, Simon conveys how socially adept and charming Alan Baker can be. The smooth conversational segues from Switzerland as a topic to the Joke about a specialist Swiss doc recommending Alan has to see Chickie within the next half hour or he'll die. His excuse for not picking Chickie up, he has to pickup pretzels for the party.

Age Range 30's
​Character's gender is male.
Monologue genre is comedic.
Find this monologue on page 32 of "The Collected Plays of Neil Simon Volume 1" from Simon's play "Come Blow Your Horn"

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)
​1. Strong Want - 1. To get a date and impress Buddy.
2. High Stakes - 0.5
3. Tactical Variety - 1. Flatters her, makes himself sound important, reminds her of who he is, avoids picking her up..
4. Hook Opener - 1. A playboy goes through his little black book.
5. Button Finish - 1. Closes on a "Voila" which references how easy it is for him to conjure up dates for any event.
6. Sensory - 0
7. Internal Obstacles - 0
8. Past/Present Balance - 0.5. Past history with Chickie lightly referenced. Essentially piece is all present action (not a bad thing!)
9. Discovery - 0.
10. Restraint - 0
TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 5

I like this monologue! It quickly establishes a character. And it's quick; monologue can be done in one minute.

Tags: Comedic male monologues, Comedic monologues for men, Mens monologues, Audition monologues for men, Contemporary monologues, Modern monologues, Monologues from published books, Monologue collections, comedy monologues, comedic monologues, funny monologues, humorous monologues, 1 minute monologues.
Get "Collected Plays of Neil Simon Vol. 1"

Into the Woods with Love by Alisha Gaddis

5/27/2017

 
1-Sentence Summary: A park ranger gives an engaged couple a tour of the woods and insists he is more entitled to the woods than they are.

Appreciated: The holier than though superior attitude the park ranger has over the people to whom he's speaking. How he shows off his knowledge of the flora and fauna. The great over the top joy and self satisfaction he takes in the woods. The absurdity of the sense of ownership he feels over the national park.

Age Range 20's to 40's
​Character's gender is male.
Monologue genre is comedic.
Find this monologue in the collection "Men's Comedic Monologues That Are Actually Funny." I believe it is standalone (not from a play).

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)
​1. Strong Want - 0.5. To impress the couple, to show off.
2. High Stakes - 0.5. Maybe they won't be impressed.
3. Tactical Variety - 1. Shows of his knowledge, compares himself to Paul Bunyan...
4. Hook Opener - 1. Uses Latin word for a tree and refers to himself as "in the know" within first 5 seconds or so.
5. Button Finish - 1
6. Sensory - 0.5
7. Internal Obstacles - 0
8. Past/Present Balance - 0
9. Discovery - 0
10. Restraint - 0
TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 4.5

Tags: Comedic male monologues, Comedic monologues for men, Mens monologues, Audition monologues for men, Contemporary monologues, Modern monologues, Monologues from published books, Minologue collections, comedy monologues, comedic monologues, funny monologues, humorous monologues.
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Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins

5/26/2017

 
1-Sentence Summary: When asked for winning stock tips, a psychic responds by explaining that if she could read the future she'd be rich herself.

Appreciated: The strength and self possession this character demonstrates. She is confident in what she can do (use tarot to read the customer's subconscious and reveal it to him) and what she can't (read the future). She uses tactics to discredit other psychics who claim they can to convince him to stay and use her services. But she never seems weak. She knows her value and is selling her services without overselling.

Age Range 40's
​Character's gender is female.
Monologue genre is comedic. But not funny haha.
Find this monologue on page 47 of "222 Comedy Monologues: 2 Minutes and Under."

​Monologue Writing 101 Elements (0 = Not Used. 1 = Used. 2 = Strong Usage)
​1. Strong Want - 0.5
2. High Stakes - 0.5
3. Tactical Variety - 1
4. Hook Opener - 1
5. Button Finish - 0.5
6. Sensory - 0.5
7. Internal Obstacles - 0
8. Past/Present Balance - 0
9. Discovery - 0
10. Restraint - 0.5
TOTAL "ELEMENT USAGE WEIGHT": 4.5

Tags: Comedic female monologues, Comedic monologues for women, Womens monologues, Audition monologues for women, Contemporary monologues, Modern monologues, Monologues from published books and novels, comedy monologues, comedic monologues, funny monologues, humorous monologues, 2 minute monologues.
Get the book "Half Asleep in Pajamas"

"Life without subtext" by Michael Mitnick

10/18/2016

 
Monologue for a young man. Hook opener "I'm Ben. I'm pretty stupid. I'm not going to a fancy college like you. I'm a third-tier kind of person." and closes on "...more than selfish discontent." Romantic comedy monologue of an earnest guy trying to talk his way into a woman's heart.

From page 195-196 of "Shorter Faster Funnier"
Get the book

Get me to the doctor!  From "Funny People" by Judd Apatow

10/17/2016

 
Monologue for a man. Character George Simmons. It's early morning, he's feeling disoriented and frightened. It's from the medicine he's on. He comes into Ira's room.

Actor performing this gets to play disorientation, fear, and a strong objective with panic under it, to get Ira's help to take him to the hospital. Contains some denial at how bad he is doing at the beginning. Then discovery at just how bad he feels and he needs to get to hospital ASAP.

​Starts on page 54 of the shooting script for "Funny People" with line "I couldn't sleep." Ends on page 55 with "we gotta go now"

Ira from "Funny People" by Judd Apatow

10/11/2016

 
Monologue for a young guy, 20's. Character is Ira, a young standup just getting started. Not making his money as a standup.

In this comedic monologue Ira has to follow George Simmons, a famous standup comic, who has just done a very unfunny set in which he was clearly very depressed and reflective about his life. Ira has to follow George and has no choice but to improvise some humor about George's set.

Great chance for an actor to play the situation, which is rich in realistic detail. Ira is nervous to be performing, as he's new to standup. He's a bit thrown by what he's just witnessed Simmons do. He's reactive in the present moment commenting on audience members who rudely get up and leave during his set.

One of the strengths of this monologue is how Ira starts struggling with weak material about himself, then gains confidence as he gets on a role with the improvised material about Simmons. He's drowning up there and he saves himself by making a split second decision to shift gears and try fresh off-the-cuff material. There's a real sense of discovery for an actor playing this monologue, as your character is having these thoughts, inventing the material which is finally getting the desired response (laughter) from the audience on the spot.
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Let me be a dad from "Hero Dad" by Laura Jacqmin

9/29/2016

 
Contemporary dramatic monologue for men under 2 minutes.  Man can be 20's to 40's.  Character's name is Mike from the play "Hero Dad" by Laura Jacqmin from Humana Festival 2012: The Complete Plays

The character, Mike, envisions what it would like to be a father.  He addresses a character "Seated Female" who he has got pregnant.  She sits in a waiting room.  He's on the phone with her.  He pleads with her to give him a chance to be a father.

Start the monologue with "I mean, the vision I have of myself?  As a dad?" on page 209 and close the monologue with "we can figure it out" on page 210.

Per Monologue Writing 101, this monologue is notable for:
  • Strong want - he has a strong desire to be a father.  
  • High stakes - if he doesn't convince her, he may not get the chance.
  • Discovery - he's sharing a vision of himself as a father with "Seated Female" likely for the first time.
  • Tactics - for a short piece, he tries two tactics: shared with her a positive vision of how he'll be a good father and that he's open to trying to make the relationship work with her.
  • Internal Obstacles - he's definitely pushing past some internal obstacles here that he had about commitment to this woman and to having a family.  But he's blasting past them, actually, because there's the real present danger in this dramatic moment of him losing both.

Walt's Monologue About His Father from Breaking Bad

9/17/2016

 
I saw this contemporary dramatic monologue for men while watching Breaking Bad and it blew me away. You'll find the monologue within Breaking Bad Season 4, Episode 10 at 23 minutes into the episode. The monologue is spoken by the character Walt who is in his forties.

The monologue is short under two minutes and exemplifies elements 1-6 and 8 of Monologue Writing 101. The night prior to the monologue Walt's son, Walt Jr., had come to his father's condo to check if everything was alright, because Walt had missed Walt Jr.'s 16th birthday celebration. Walt Jr. finds his father looking beat up, Walt's been in a fight, and drunk. In his drunken weakened state Walt had spoken briefly to his son and then passed out. The monologue takes place the next morning.

In the monologue Walt shares the story of his one real memory of his own father, who died of Huntington's disease when Walt was very young. Walt's memory is of a father who was very sick, barely hanging onto life, who could no longer speak, and who may no longer even have fully recognized him. Walt's only real memory of his father is of a shell of a man. Walt wants his own son, Walt Jr., to remember him at his best. Walt does not want Walt Jr. to remember him the way he was the night before; drunk, beaten, incoherent.

For actors auditioning for a dramatic role, who want to demonstrate they can achieve a layered, nuanced performance - this monologue delivers.

Per Monologue Writing 101, this monologue exemplifies the following elements:

Element 1: Walt has a strong desire for his son to have a positive memory of him. He wants his son to forget what he saw last night.

Element 2: Walt has at stake how his son sees and esteems him. As a father, Walt cares deeply how he will be remembered by his son when he is gone.

Element 3: Walt tries a few tactics to get his son to forget about his lapse in character. He apologizes to his son, he shows his son he feels ashamed, he uses self-deprecation, and finally he opens up about his own father. The memory he shares is something very personal that he has never told his son before.

Element 4: The opening of the monologue serves as an effective hook. It sets up the current state of the relationship dynamic and the want that the speaker has in that relationship. It pulls us in. We want to see if Walt will win over his son.
"I wish I could take back last night. It was your birthday, this shouldn’t be on your mind. No it’s not okay, I’m your father and I don’t want last night to be…. I mean you, you really … you can’t think of me like …"

Element 5: The close of the monologue has a solid "button" ending. It effectively connects the past action from Walt's childhood back to the present action between Walt and Walt Jr. and to the strong character want established at the start of the monologue. By the end of the monologue, Walt's want has more weight and has engaged the empathy of Walt Jr. "That is the only real memory that I have of my father. I don’t want you to think of me the way I was last night. I don’t want that to be the memory you have of me when I’m gone."

Element 6: This is an excellent example of a monologue that engages the senses. Walt remembers the smell in hospital where he visited his father, the "stench of Lysol and bleach." He remembers seeing his father lying in bed "all twisted up." And he remembers the sound of his father breathing like "this rattling sound. Like if you were shaking an empty spray paint can. Like there was nothing in him."

Element 8: Past action is used to drive home the present want of the monologist. Walt uses his memory as a tactic to engage his son's empathy, to persuade his son. The author does a good job keeping past action tied to present action.

Here is one example from the monologue where
Walt uses a specific detail from the past as a means to connect to his son in the present: "My mother would tell me so many stories about my father. I mean she would talk about him all the time. I knew about his personality, how he treated people, I even knew how he liked his steaks cooked. Medium rare, just like you."

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